This is one of a few reasons that I don't absolutely hate UNC like a good Duke fan should: their coach is a class act, and their program is, too. Great quick recap of the most recent fallout from the Elbow.
My favorite quote (from Coach Williams):
"I know Gerald Henderson and his family and I think he's a wonderful kid and I don't think there was any intention. I do believe the officials made the correct call, but at the same time I don't believe Gerald is a bad youngster, and I don't believe it was anything intentional or premeditated. I wish everyone would allow us to move on.
Well said, Coach.
And, uh, Go Duke.
Monday, March 5, 2007
Celebrations with a dose of realism
The All-ACC team announcements were made Monday, and it's nice to see a few Blue Devils got mentioned. Josh McRoberts ended up with second team honors to go with his All-Defensive team award, while Jon Scheyer made it to the All Freshman squad. Damarcus Nelson ended up with honorable mentions in both the All-ACC team voting as well as the All-Defensive team.
Now, the sad, though not wholly unexpected part for Duke fans: In every category a Duke player was honored, they were the last, or nearly so, in votes. Josh McRoberts made second team as the fifth member with a total of 159 points, trailing the leader of second-team vote getters, J.R. Reynolds of Virginia by 73 votes and Zabian Dowdell, the fifth member of the first team by 143 points. Nowhere in the ballpark.
Jon Scheyer earned the last spot on the Freshman team with 54 points, beating Thaddeus Young by 12 points for that spot.
Look, the awards are cause for celebration. This team is a far cry from previous Duke teams, but the boys are our boys. We love them. It's been a tough season, and I'm happy that there were strong enough solo performances to be recognized alongside some really strong players, in the strongest conference top to bottom in the country.
Go Duke!
Now, the sad, though not wholly unexpected part for Duke fans: In every category a Duke player was honored, they were the last, or nearly so, in votes. Josh McRoberts made second team as the fifth member with a total of 159 points, trailing the leader of second-team vote getters, J.R. Reynolds of Virginia by 73 votes and Zabian Dowdell, the fifth member of the first team by 143 points. Nowhere in the ballpark.
Jon Scheyer earned the last spot on the Freshman team with 54 points, beating Thaddeus Young by 12 points for that spot.
Look, the awards are cause for celebration. This team is a far cry from previous Duke teams, but the boys are our boys. We love them. It's been a tough season, and I'm happy that there were strong enough solo performances to be recognized alongside some really strong players, in the strongest conference top to bottom in the country.
Go Duke!
Duke draws NC State
Things could be better for the Blue Devils. Their path the ACC Tournament Finals all but guarantees that they would have to face two teams with prolific guards. Virginia in round two and either Virginia Tech or Georgia Tech in round three. Duke has struggled all year against teams with strong guard play, and now, with their entire defense looking suspect, is not the time to take another hit on their Achilles heel.
Oh, would that Duke had finished 5th. Or heck, even twelfth. Then a first round win would have them playing the abysmal and jackass-ridden Boston College in the second round. Boston College sucks. They should be thanking their lucky stars they stumbled in at fourth in the conference and aren't having to battle it out in the trenches in the first round. They've lost four of their last five, and six of their last eleven ACC matchups. In the six conference wins they have managed since January 16th, four of them were over the teams in the bottom four in the ACC, with only one quality win against Virginia Tech.
They're horrible right now. Dudley is a scrapper, but the entire lot is a bunch of whining babies. Seriously, I've never seen a team get away with more out and out crying to the officials. Constant nagging, constant whining. Sean Marshall is the worst. I've seen him applaud a missed free throw by an opponent, mock refs behind their backs when reprimanded, and leave the free throw line between shots to go complain to an official. One of the biggest jackasses in college basketball.
But getting back to the point, Duke's first match is against the NC State Wolfpack. Duke beat up Sidney Lowe's new team earlier in the season, and while Duke has struggled lately, the Pack is not in any better shape. They've lost six of their last eight, all but one of them by 15 points or more. What's more, they don't have superstar guards, so Duke figures to be a decent favorite here. However, Duke's low post defense has not been what it once was in the last two games, so who knows.
Keep the faith.
Go Duke
Oh, would that Duke had finished 5th. Or heck, even twelfth. Then a first round win would have them playing the abysmal and jackass-ridden Boston College in the second round. Boston College sucks. They should be thanking their lucky stars they stumbled in at fourth in the conference and aren't having to battle it out in the trenches in the first round. They've lost four of their last five, and six of their last eleven ACC matchups. In the six conference wins they have managed since January 16th, four of them were over the teams in the bottom four in the ACC, with only one quality win against Virginia Tech.
They're horrible right now. Dudley is a scrapper, but the entire lot is a bunch of whining babies. Seriously, I've never seen a team get away with more out and out crying to the officials. Constant nagging, constant whining. Sean Marshall is the worst. I've seen him applaud a missed free throw by an opponent, mock refs behind their backs when reprimanded, and leave the free throw line between shots to go complain to an official. One of the biggest jackasses in college basketball.
But getting back to the point, Duke's first match is against the NC State Wolfpack. Duke beat up Sidney Lowe's new team earlier in the season, and while Duke has struggled lately, the Pack is not in any better shape. They've lost six of their last eight, all but one of them by 15 points or more. What's more, they don't have superstar guards, so Duke figures to be a decent favorite here. However, Duke's low post defense has not been what it once was in the last two games, so who knows.
Keep the faith.
Go Duke
2007 ACC Men's Basketball Tournament
The ACC bracket is set. Duke hits NC State first, then moves on to Virginia. If they're fortunate enough to make it into and out of the match with Virginia, they'll face Virginia Tech or Georgia Tech, assuming Wake Forest continues to be Wake Forest.
Printable Tournament Bracket
Printable Tournament Bracket
A Whole Season in Forty Minutes
For Duke, yesterday's game versus North Carolina was a microcosm of sorts of the 2007 ACC season.
Right out of the gates, Duke found themselves down on sloppy play. Carolina went on a quick run, and it was a couple of minutes in before Duke righted the ship and stopped the bleeding. Even so, while holding their deficit steady, the sloppy play continued, and Josh McRoberts finished the first half with six turnovers, eventually allowing UNC to put together another run to go up 13 before the half, a lead which Duke barely cut down to nine in the final seconds.
Coming back from halftime, Duke went on a little run, cutting the lead to two, a la Boston College through St. John's, before coming face to face once again with North Carolina's superb depth, and crumbling at crunch time.
As a Duke fan, this season has been a tough one. Dropping the first two, winning five in a row, losing four in a row, winning three before crumbling at crunch time and falling all the way to seventh in the ACC to finish the season. I don't think any Duke fan can grumble too much over a loss to a much deeper and better overall North Carolina team. What does sting, however, is the black eye Duke is going to receive from the fallout of the final seconds of the game.
With under twenty seconds to go and down by twelve, Gerald Henderson went up strong to block a Tyler Hansbrough shot and cracked him in the face with an elbow.
Watching the tape, you can see Henderson go up strong for the block and then turn when the ball gets stripped early, putting his elbow at grill-level for a collision with Hansbrough. If one felt that the tape is somewhat inconclusive, then you look at Henderson's record as a player. He's not dirty. He's just not the type of guy who would lose it like that.
Now, granted, I'm pretty sure that he was going up to deny Hansbrough in a powerful way. North Carolina was looking to pile on in the final seconds. Hansbrough wasn't looking to dump it outside and run down the clock. He was looking to add insult to injury.
And that's fine. That's what teams do in rivalry games. Likewise, however, losing teams fight to the death in rivalry games and one cannot expect a pile-on dunk as Hansbrough was preparing to throw down to go uncontested. And contest it, Gerald Henderson was prepared to do.
Pat Forde shows his colors as a Duke-hater when he lets the basic laws of physics take backseat to his fortune-telling, stating for a "fact" that Gerald Henderson went up to foul Hansbrough hard. Not to punch him but to foul him hard and thus, the ejection was deserved. Last I checked, Patty-me-boy, you have to go up strong and get equal momentum behind a block to have any chance of success. Henderson went up hard because Hansbrough was going up hard. There is no way to tell if Henderson was looking to stop the dunk with a foul or a block. Given Henderson's record, it's just as likely he was looking to salvage a little dignity with a strong block.
Either way, this moment will be replayed from now till the end of time whenever these two teams meet, and I'm sure the intent will be debated for just as long. In any case, it's a black eye for the Blue Devil image in the eyes of anyone who doesn't stand behind them. Unfortunately, as much as I love and respect Coach K, I think his post-game comments may have made things worse. After the game, Coach K insinuated that if Hansbrough hadn't been in the game it wouldn't have happened.
Ouch. Mike. Please. I know you are competitive, and I know the pile-on hurts. But this is how it works. That comment makes you sound one step ahead of Isaiah Thomas. So what that Williams left some of his starters in? You've just got to take this one on the chin. As soon as Hansbrough took it in the nose, this became a battle of image. While attacking Williams for leaving starters in would have been totally legit before the mishap, afterwards you've just got to suck it up and keep your mouth shut.
We'll see if the loss of Henderson for one game will inspire, or deflate this ragged Duke team. After all, this is a team that wins on grit and determination, not refined talent. Their success in the ACC and NCAA tournaments depend largely, therefore, on how they respond to this kick they have given themselves in their own teeth.
Right out of the gates, Duke found themselves down on sloppy play. Carolina went on a quick run, and it was a couple of minutes in before Duke righted the ship and stopped the bleeding. Even so, while holding their deficit steady, the sloppy play continued, and Josh McRoberts finished the first half with six turnovers, eventually allowing UNC to put together another run to go up 13 before the half, a lead which Duke barely cut down to nine in the final seconds.
Coming back from halftime, Duke went on a little run, cutting the lead to two, a la Boston College through St. John's, before coming face to face once again with North Carolina's superb depth, and crumbling at crunch time.
As a Duke fan, this season has been a tough one. Dropping the first two, winning five in a row, losing four in a row, winning three before crumbling at crunch time and falling all the way to seventh in the ACC to finish the season. I don't think any Duke fan can grumble too much over a loss to a much deeper and better overall North Carolina team. What does sting, however, is the black eye Duke is going to receive from the fallout of the final seconds of the game.
With under twenty seconds to go and down by twelve, Gerald Henderson went up strong to block a Tyler Hansbrough shot and cracked him in the face with an elbow.
Watching the tape, you can see Henderson go up strong for the block and then turn when the ball gets stripped early, putting his elbow at grill-level for a collision with Hansbrough. If one felt that the tape is somewhat inconclusive, then you look at Henderson's record as a player. He's not dirty. He's just not the type of guy who would lose it like that.
Now, granted, I'm pretty sure that he was going up to deny Hansbrough in a powerful way. North Carolina was looking to pile on in the final seconds. Hansbrough wasn't looking to dump it outside and run down the clock. He was looking to add insult to injury.
And that's fine. That's what teams do in rivalry games. Likewise, however, losing teams fight to the death in rivalry games and one cannot expect a pile-on dunk as Hansbrough was preparing to throw down to go uncontested. And contest it, Gerald Henderson was prepared to do.
Pat Forde shows his colors as a Duke-hater when he lets the basic laws of physics take backseat to his fortune-telling, stating for a "fact" that Gerald Henderson went up to foul Hansbrough hard. Not to punch him but to foul him hard and thus, the ejection was deserved. Last I checked, Patty-me-boy, you have to go up strong and get equal momentum behind a block to have any chance of success. Henderson went up hard because Hansbrough was going up hard. There is no way to tell if Henderson was looking to stop the dunk with a foul or a block. Given Henderson's record, it's just as likely he was looking to salvage a little dignity with a strong block.
Either way, this moment will be replayed from now till the end of time whenever these two teams meet, and I'm sure the intent will be debated for just as long. In any case, it's a black eye for the Blue Devil image in the eyes of anyone who doesn't stand behind them. Unfortunately, as much as I love and respect Coach K, I think his post-game comments may have made things worse. After the game, Coach K insinuated that if Hansbrough hadn't been in the game it wouldn't have happened.
Ouch. Mike. Please. I know you are competitive, and I know the pile-on hurts. But this is how it works. That comment makes you sound one step ahead of Isaiah Thomas. So what that Williams left some of his starters in? You've just got to take this one on the chin. As soon as Hansbrough took it in the nose, this became a battle of image. While attacking Williams for leaving starters in would have been totally legit before the mishap, afterwards you've just got to suck it up and keep your mouth shut.
We'll see if the loss of Henderson for one game will inspire, or deflate this ragged Duke team. After all, this is a team that wins on grit and determination, not refined talent. Their success in the ACC and NCAA tournaments depend largely, therefore, on how they respond to this kick they have given themselves in their own teeth.
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